OpenAI to lease gigantic Cold War-era facility in what is set to be largest-ever AI data center

OpenAI will lease a massive new data center in Ohio for 20 years, backed by a $105 billion financing commitment from Nvidia, according to a regulatory filing published Monday. The facility, built on a former Cold War-era uranium enrichment plant site, could grow to 8 gigawatts of capacity, making it the largest single AI data center, and will run exclusively on Nvidia chips. SoftBank and SB Energy will invest over $4 billion in local energy infrastructure and build at least 10 GW of new energy generation, while Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion into SB Energy, despite concerns about circular financing.

OpenAI to lease gigantic Cold War-era facility in what is set to be largest-ever AI data center San Francisco, California - ChatGPT-maker OpenAI https://www.tag24.com/en/tech will lease a massive new data center in the US for 20 years, backed by a $105 billion financing commitment from Nvidia, according to a regulatory filing published Monday. The project will be built on the site of a former Cold War-era uranium enrichment plant in Ohio and could eventually grow to have 8 gigawatts of capacity, making it the largest single data center for artificial intelligence AI . The data center will also run "exclusively" on Nvidia chips. SoftBank and the data center's owner, a subsidiary called SB Energy, will invest more than $4 billion into local energy infrastructure and "build at least 10 GW of new energy generation" to power the data center. OpenAI will commit $40 million to "support local priorities." Additionally, Nvidia will invest $1.5 billion into SB Energy, though the company preemptively pushed back on critiques about so-called circular financing, which has fueled fears about an AI bubble that will eventually burst. "OpenAI will pay the lease," Nvidia wrote in a blog post https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/securing-the-infrastructure-of-intelligence/ on Monday, and continued that the deal was made with "the same discipline we apply to supply-chain management." However, Nvidia's financing guarantee, its largest, marks a shift in scale for a practice that has become common in the sector: despite explosive revenue growth, AI developers still depend on financial backing from their own suppliers to build the giant infrastructure underpinning this technological revolution. Cover photo: Unsplash/Levart Photographer